In 2010, Glasgow photographer and electrician Sean R. Heavey photographed a thunderstorm supercell, which he called "The Mothership." He says Netflix used his photo for "Stranger Things" concept art.(Photo: Sean R. Heavey)

GLASGOW — In 2010, Sean Heavey took a thunderstorm photo that became an icon.

It's the No. 1 Google search result for "supercell" (after the video company of the same name). It landed him a role in an Apple commercial. National Geographic's website selected it from among approximately 17,000 entries as one of its photos of the week. "The Mothership," as he called the photo, appeared in the British Daily Mail and in publications all over the world.

And it's been a constant copyright infringement nightmare.

"With the internet, people think they can use anything," Heavey said.

Most recently, Heavey was watching an episode of "Stranger Things" when he thought, hmm, that storm from which emerged an alien looks weirdly familiar. He watched it over and over (while his son protested the interruption to their regular viewing).

A behind-the-scenes episode confirmed his suspicions. In episode 3 "Unlikely Allies" of "Beyond Stranger Things," in a discussion about the vision of the show, a photo labeled "concept art" appears.

It appears to be Heavey's photo, made bluer, plus foreground and a bolt of lightning added.

Heavey's lawyer sent a letter to Netflix.

"We were thinking we would send the letter, and they would say whoops, sorry," Heavey said.

That didn't happen.

Netflix attorney Jarin Jackson wrote in a letter to Heavey that the concept art is "not virtually identical," therefore not within the "thin copyright" the photo has, because the concept art has a small child looking over the fictional city of Hawkins.

"The only similarity that exists between the Artwork and Mr. Heavey’s photograph, The Mothership (the 'Photo'), is the use of similar cloud formations. Copyright law, however, does not protect objects as they appear in nature," Jackson wrote.

You can't copyright a cloud.

Well, that's true. But a cloud photo is a different thing, Heavey said.

"That photo was taken in the middle of nowhere. There was no one else standing next to me," he said. "They didn't create anything new. They took my photo, but they're trying to say it's just a similar cloud and you can't copyright a cloud."

Netflix has not yet responded to a request for additional comment.

Heavey polled people on social media and consulted weather experts.

"Storms have a fingerprint," the experts told him.

Heavey hopes social media will overcome the power imbalance of going against such a big company.

"Netflix is a multi-billion-dollar company and they think, no, we don't owe you anything," he said. "I hope with social media, maybe Netflix will hear about it, that it will give power to the small guy, that they'll hear people think it's not right."

He imagines how they could come after him if he'd done something like that with Netflix's intellectual property.

"Everyone who worked on that show made good money. You paid someone to produce your music. Why didn't they just go to a stock photo website and buy an image? Instead, they did a right click and copied mine," he said.